HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 101 [101] Even after several months without releasing an album, Qi Yuan's story still resonates in the music scene.
Li Bingbing debuted quite early.

Actually, she didn't initially plan to become an actress.

She worked as a music teacher at a school in her hometown, and was later discovered by actor Gao Qiang during a performance at a Spring Festival Gala.

Gao Qiang strongly suggested that she apply to the film academy, and she crammed for the college entrance examination for several months and successfully entered the Shanghai Theatre Academy.

She had a tough time in her early years. Just after she was admitted to the Shanghai Theatre Academy, her mother had to have heart surgery, and the family was left with a mountain of debt.

While studying at the Shanghai Theatre Academy, she was forced to become the pillar of her family. Whenever she had a break, she would act to earn money to pay off debts and also support her younger sister's tuition and living expenses.

Fortunately, one year her outstanding appearance and temperament caught the eye of an advertiser in Guangzhou, earning her 26 yuan in advertising fees, which improved her family's financial situation.

However, her acting career has not been smooth sailing. She has been working in the industry for several years but has no outstanding representative works.

When Lafang was selecting actresses for its advertisements, she learned that she had the opportunity to work with Qi Yuan, so she seized the opportunity and submitted her resume.

With formal training, experience in advertising, and outstanding figure and appearance, these advantages combined allowed her to outshine all her competitors.

"Hello, Teacher Qi Yuan. My name is Li Bingbing. I am very happy to work with you."

Born in 73, Li Bingbing is 25 years old this year and has a steady and dignified demeanor.

Qi Yuan extended her hand and shook hands with Li Bingbing: "No need to call me 'you' or 'teacher,' just call me by my name. I was born in August 1978, and it feels a bit strange for you to call me 'teacher' when you're five years older than me."

Li Bingbing also felt something was a little strange.

If Qi Yuan were a child from her hometown, when she was 19 and a music teacher, she might have been one of the students sitting in the audience.

The plot of this advertisement is not complicated.

On Qi Yuan's birthday, his girlfriend Li Bingbing and other friends celebrated with him.

Everyone was playing around, and Li Bingbing smeared cream on Qi Yuan's head.

At that moment, screams from fans came from downstairs.

A group of fans holding signs were waiting for Qi Yuan downstairs.

Qi Yuan noticed that her hair was dirty and was worried that it would affect her appearance.

At this moment, the Lafang shampoo was ready. Li Bingbing tossed a bottle of Lafang to Qi Yuan, and he and his friends pushed Qi Yuan into the bathroom.

After using Lafang shampoo, Qi Yuan's hair became smooth and flowing, restoring his handsome appearance.

Then, the paparazzi appeared, wanting to expose Qi Yuan and his girlfriend.

While her friends drew attention away from Qi Yuan, Qi Yuan took the opportunity to grab Li Bingbing's hand and run away down the stairs.

Unable to escape in the end, paparazzi and fans swarmed around her in a blind spot and took a series of photos, but Qi Yuan's hair remained smooth.

When the advertisement goes live, the song "Because of Love, I Love" will be featured throughout.

Having the experience of shooting Wahaha purified water commercials, Qi Yuan found the process of shooting Lafang commercials to be smooth and easy.

After filming the commercial, Qi Yuan was about to leave when Li Bingbing caught up with her and made a difficult request: "My sister is a fan of yours, could you please sign an autograph for her?"

Li Bingbing was holding Qi Yuan's photo album, which was probably a pirated copy. The manufacturer had put together Qi Yuan's photos and printed them into one photo album.

Qi Yuan nodded. She had originally intended to write, "Wishing Li Xue academic success and a bright future."

Li Bingbing added, "My sister has started working."

Qi Yuan changed it to: 'Wishing Ms. Li Xue all the best in her work and a safe journey.'

The Li Bingbing sisters are both talented.

Li Bingbing, needless to say, is hardworking and has excellent acting skills. Her younger sister, Li Xue, is a very intelligent woman.

Few celebrities who use family members as their agents escape being held back; Lee Hsin is a rare exception.

Just after signing his autograph for Li Bingbing, Qi Yuan's phone rang.

“Ah Yuan, you should go back to Taiwan. The song you wrote for Liang Yongqi, ‘Coward,’ has been very well received. Her album sold very well, even better than Li Wen’s ‘DiDaDi Hint’ at the beginning of the year. Dai Pei Ni has come to Taiwan. You should come back soon and help her commission a single.”

Thankfully, Sun Nan hadn't sung "Come Back Soon" yet, otherwise Zhou Jianhui would definitely have sung to Qi Yuan, "Come back soon, life is wonderful because of you, come back soon..."

While Qi Yuanhui was filming a music video in mainland China, the Hong Kong and Taiwan music scene underwent another change.

In June, Liang Yongqi released her new album "Liang Yongqi Gigi", which is her third Mandarin album. It sold over two million copies in Asia throughout the year, surpassing Li Wen's sales at the beginning of the year.

The album is of high overall quality, and "Coward," written by Qi Yuan, is one of the most popular songs on the album.

On the streets of Taiwan and Hong Kong, you can often hear the song "I like to see you frowning and calling me a cowardly turtle~", which shows how popular the song is.

Nayoung, who was frantically promoting her work, couldn't help but curse again.

Although Qi Yuan hasn't released an album in the past few months, there's been a lot going on in the music scene. First, his song "Dang" became a hit in Taiwan thanks to the popularity of "Princess Pearl," and now he has another song, "Coward."

Na-young and Liang Yongqi are both very popular this year, but they still can't compare to Li Wen.

Li Wen has been incredibly successful this year. She released "DiDaDi Hints" in January and "Sunny Day" in June, both of which were huge hits.

Li Wen is currently planning her "Heartthrob" concert.

Also on June 10th of this year, Li Wen, as the only representative from the Asian Chinese region, went to Paris to sing "Colors" at the opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup, becoming the first Chinese-language singer to perform at the World Cup opening ceremony.

"Colors" became the first Chinese theme song officially recognized by the World Cup.

Later netizens commented that 1998 was the year of Li Wen in the Chinese music scene. Although it was a bit of an exaggeration, Li Wen was really popular that year.

Karen Mok and Valen Hsu, who also released new albums in June, fared worse. Under the combined pressure from Li Wen, Liang Yongqi, and Na Ying, they lost their former luster.

Female singers have already started to make their mark this year, while male singers are still holding back their big surprises.

Artists like Qi Yuan, Richie Jen, Emil Chau, Wang Lihong, Andy Lau, and Zhang Xueyou have not released any Mandarin albums this year.

Qi Yuan sighed with emotion, saying that the Chinese music scene in the late 90s was truly terrifying, with new hit songs appearing every month.

He promised Zhou Jianhui that he would return to Taiwan soon.

Zhou Jianhui urgently needs to improve his performance; he desperately wants to advance.

Leung Wing-ki's record distribution business in Hong Kong was taken to Warner Music by Chow Kin-fat.

However, Leung Wing-ki is from the millennium generation, and the distribution rights in Taiwan and mainland China are not in Warner's hands; they belong to outsiders. Tai Pei-ni is the singer signed by Warner.

If Qi Yuan could tailor-make a single for Dai Peini that's just as good as "Coward," Zhou Jianhui would wake up laughing every night.

Actually, there was another reason why Qi Yuan agreed to return to Taiwan.

Chen Kaige was incredibly kind to him during this trip back to the mainland to film the music video.

Not only did they not accept a single penny from him, but they also treated him to food and drinks, and even let him kiss his wife.

He figured that since Chen Kaige didn't want money, he would write a movie end credits song for him.

He already has ideas for the movie's end credits song and Dai Peini's first single.

(End of this chapter)